News, 5/20/2014

Minister Huovinen to attend WHO World Health Assembly in Geneva

Minister of Health and Social Services Susanna Huovinen will attend the World Health Organization's two-day long ministerial conference in Geneva on 19-20 May. The conference is part of the WHO World Health Assembly, which will continue until 24 May.

Subjects covered in the World Health Assembly's agenda include prevention of noncommunicable diseases, health objectives for the upcoming UN Development Agenda, maternal, infant and young child nutrition, newborn health, prevention of violence experienced by girls and women and access to palliative care.

One of the documents that will be ratified at the assembly will be the "Health in All Policies" resolution drafted by Finland. The idea behind the resolution is that because the factors that influence health are numerous and varied, health should be taken into account in all decision-making regardless of administrative boundaries.

The general discussion and debate portion of the WHO assembly will deal with climate change and its effects on health.

"Climate change will bring about many new challenges for the current healthcare system, such as various communicable diseases. Usually it's the society's weakest that are the most vulnerable, and in order to solve this problem, we need long-term cross-administrative cooperation both globally and locally," Minister Huovinen points out.

While in Geneva, Minister Huovinen will meet with WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, as well as Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO Regional Director for Europe. Minister Huovinen's plans also include one-on-one meetings with government ministers and secretaries of state from the United States, Indonesia, Poland and Singapore.